Disclaimer: Not mine. All characters that appeared in the StarGate SG-1 movies, TV shows, and other paraphernalia belong exclusively to their creators and MGM. Other ideas and supplementary characters are mine (yay!). No copyright infringement intended.

A/N: So this chapter is a little bit shorter (which I guess means I have to have a long A/N), and kinda just pulls some things together in regards to Daniel and O'Neill. I hope to have the next chapter up soon, and I promise that the following chapter will be much more interesting and exciting than the little thing that this chapter has ended up being.

Anyway, as always, reviews and constructive criticism and ideas are great. If anyone has any character issues, please let me know ASAP, seeing as how out of character characters always make me want to scream (therefore I have nightmares about my own stories being OOC...not really, but you get the idea).

Hope you enjoy...

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Chapter 4: The Healing of a Shattered Soul

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Daniel looked around as the door to the lab slid open. The limp form of one of his best friends was dragged through the opening, her head hanging dejectedly. She didn't even struggle as she was lifted and laid back onto the table, the cuffs securing themselves around her wrists.

With a slight tremor in his back, he pushed himself off of the cold surface of his own table, looking over the unconscious Jack, attempting to get a good look at Sam. Her face was pale, all of the blood drained out of her features, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. Blood stained her neck on both sides, the slight rivulets still trickling minimally.

"Sam?" Daniel asked tentatively as soon as the door closed behind the retreating Jaffa. "Are you okay?" Daniel added as Sam remained silent.

Sam lifted her head and turned it slightly, just enough so that she could meet Daniel's eyes. Her head fell back against the hard surface again, her ear pressed against the cold metal.

"No Daniel, I'm not okay," she finally said, her voice quiet, filled with despair and pain, as well as something else. Hatred, Daniel realized after a few seconds of contemplation.

"What happened?" he asked, his voice calm and soothing.

Sam merely shook her head, turning her face away from him and staring up at the ceiling. Silence stretched between them and Daniel finally gave up, turning his head back to a more natural position, resting back against the table again.

"He's here." Her voice shattered the oppressive silence, and Daniel's gaze darted to the dejected form of his friend again. He didn't say a word, afraid that, if he spoke, she would stop talking.

"My father," she supplied finally. "He's here. Belenus has him. He's been experimenting on him." Sam's voice caught as she said these words, a strangled sob finally forcing its way out of her throat. "It's bad, Daniel." And then, with that, she fell silent, her mind taking her back to relive whatever scene she had just experienced.

Daniel settled back into the silence, closing his eyes and breathing steadily, attempting to calm his trembling body.

"What happened to you two?" Sam said, her voice a bit steadier than before, once again breaking the silence. "You two both look distinctly worse off than when I left."

Daniel snorted in affirmation. "After you were taken out, Belenus decided to continue with his experiments on us. I think he was testing to see what caused our adrenaline to spike, and the levels they could reach and such. He started with Jack," Daniel said, looking at the still unconscious form of the colonel. "Blunt trauma," he explained, answering Sam's unspoken question. "Knocked him unconscious."

"And you?" Sam asked, her voice still holding a slight tremor. But Daniel could tell that she was, once again, getting her feelings and emotions under control, slipping back behind the soldier mask that she always wore.

Daniel laughed sardonically. "Electrocution."

Sam winced, her eyes darting to meet Daniel's. They looked much more like themselves than they had a moment ago, Daniel noted, although they were still haunted, and there continued to be something off in their crystal blue depths.

A moan brought both of their attentions to the man lying between them. Jack opened his eyes, blinking to clear the fog that clouded them. "Aahgg…" he grumbled, moving his head and immediately wincing.

"You probably shouldn't move around too much, sir," Sam informed the older man. "You don't know what damage was done when you were knocked out."

"So Daniel told about what happened?" Jack asked, his voice distinctively quieter than his usual brazen tone, indicating that he was sound sensitive.

"Yes sir," Sam said sympathetically.

"So what happened to you?" Jack asked, missing Daniel's warning glare.

Sam immediately fell silent, withdrawing yet again from the world around her again. The silence stretched out, and Jack began to get a strange expression on his face: a mix of anger and fear.

"Carter," he snapped, wincing as his voice filled the room, the sound waves rebounding off of the wall and hitting his sensitive ears.

"It's Jacob, Jack. He's being held prisoner and being used as a test subject," Daniel said hurriedly, answering for Sam. Jack looked taken aback, then a look of relief crossed his face for an instant. He relaxed, clearly preferring Jacob being a prisoner to whatever it was he had feared Sam had been implying.

"Oh," was all he said, then looked over at Carter who was staring, once again, at the ceiling. It was obvious something else had happened that she hadn't told them. For one thing, she hadn't explained about the blood drying in crusts on her neck, the collar of her black shirt stiffening as the liquid dried.

"Look, Carter…we're gonna get out of this," Jack assured his 2IC. "And we're gonna bring your father with us."

She only nodded mutely, her eyes still fixed on the beam above her.

~SG-1~SG-1~SG-1~

"Sam," Daniel began, looking over at her intently. It had been at least an hour since Jack had awoken, and Daniel was becoming increasingly worried about his friend. She had become silent, only speaking when it became mandatory, electing to stare at the ceiling for the majority of the time.

The blonde Air Force major looked over at her friend, her eyes haunted. "What do you want Daniel?" she asked softly.

"I think you need to tell us what happened in there," Daniel said resolutely, hating himself for asking it of her, seeing whatever it was that they had done to her had traumatized her, and yet knowing that it was necessary.

"Daniel," Sam begged, her voice soft, "I really don't want to talk about it."

Daniel coughed a little, then said, "Yeah, I know…but Sam…"

Sam sighed, looking at the silently listening Colonel. He gave her an encouraging smile, silently urging her to speak. Beyond him, Daniel watched his friend with a concerned look.

The sound of Sam's head hitting the table echoed through the room. She sighed again, and then silence descended on the small group.

Daniel let the silence continue for a few more minutes, then once again opened his mouth to press for answers.

"As I said, my father is here," Sam said, her voice soft and husky, the pain still evident in it. "The Jaffa brought me to a room much like this one. After a while, Belenus came, then called for the Jaffa to bring my father as well."

Sam stopped, swallowing and taking a deep breath.

"They tied him to the table, leaving me free. He was unconscious at first," she continued, closing her eyes. "When I went over to him, I could see just how badly injured he was. Even Selmak can't do everything, can't seem to quite keep up with it all. That's when I tried to attack Belenus then," Sam said, a strange note in her tone. Daniel heard Jack chuckle, could see his eyes dancing with a merry light as Daniel glanced down at the older man. "That didn't work out quite as well as I could have hoped. I was grabbed, and the next thing I knew, Belenus was leaning over me with a needle and syringe. He drew blood from my neck, then cut a lock of hair. He put those in some sort of solution, and injected it into my father."

Silence descended over the three of them yet again. Daniel could feel that this wasn't the entire story, but he didn't want to interrupt Sam.

Finally, she spoke again. "When he woke up, it was like he wasn't himself anymore. When he looked at me…it was almost as if he couldn't see…me," Sam finished, looking at Jack, then at Daniel. "It was like he was seeing some sort of monster."

Pain clouded her eyes, and she turned her head back, staring up at the ceiling.

"We're going to get him out Carter," Jack said, speaking for the first time since Sam had begun speaking. "You have to believe that, along with the fact that he's going to be okay. You know he loves you, that he'd do anything for you."

Sam nodded mutely, still staring forlornly at the ceiling. But Daniel could also see her relaxing slightly, her breathing becoming deeper and steadier.

"I know," she said, this time her voice sounding almost normal.

~SG-1~SG-1~SG-1~

Daniel picked his head up, craning it to one side so as to see the watch still strapped to his wrist. The gleaming black numbers read 1300. It had almost been a full day by now, Daniel realized, and dropped his head back to the tabletop, attempting to ease the crick out of his neck.

He looked to his left. Jack had been sleeping soundly ever since Daniel had decided that he wasn't suffering from a concussion, at least not a severe one. Beyond him, Sam had fallen silent again, continuing to stare up at the ceiling above her. The only reason Daniel knew she was still alive was that he could see the gentle rise and fall of her chest as she drew breath.

A wave of depression and hopelessness washed over the archaeologist as he considered his friends. Both of them were injured, although in different ways: Jack physically, Sam emotionally. Although it seemed as if Sam was healing, Daniel knew that it would take time, as well as freeing herself from the bonds holding her down.

The sudden sound of the door opening yet again snapped Daniel out of his brooding, causing him to look behind him. To his surprise, and slight elation, he noted that Sam also looked around her, her facial expression curious yet guarded.

The two Jaffa that entered the room stepped over beside Sam, one of them triggering a latch on the underside of the table. Immediately, the cuffs strapping Sam to the bed were released. With a sudden burst of energy, Daniel saw Sam sit upright, slamming one foot into the face of the nearest Jaffa. He stumbled back, his nose bleeding. She turned to incapacitate the second Jaffa, but he was too fast, moving behind her and grabbing her, wrapping her arms in his. The first Jaffa grabbed her kicking feet, stilling them.

Holding her between them, the two Jaffa exited the room, the one man's nose still bleeding profusely.

That was the last time Daniel would see his friend for many days.